Artwork
Seasonal Landscapes: Autumn
Seasonal Landscapes: Autumn is an unspecified painting by the Kanō school artist Kano Hideyori. It dates from 1504 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
- Accession no.
- 1988.13.3
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
About this work
Overview
Seasonal Landscapes: Autumn is a tall ink scroll that forms part of a series originally representing the four seasons. Today only three of the scrolls survive, making the set one of the most significant remaining bodies of work by the artist. The composition presents a river winding through a landscape dotted with golden maple leaves and diminutive figures traveling along a path.
Subject & Meaning
The autumnal scene captures the transition of nature through the vivid coloration of maple foliage and the gentle flow of water, suggesting both the passage of time and the quiet movement of travelers within the landscape. By placing the figures on a narrow road, the artist emphasizes humanity’s fleeting journey amid seasonal change.
Technique & Style
Executed in the gyō mode, the brushwork employs rapid, rounded strokes that echo the fluidity of handwritten characters. This semicursive approach, derived from calligraphic terminology alongside shin (formal) and sō (cursive), imparts a lively, spontaneous quality to the ink, allowing the forms of trees, water, and figures to emerge with a sense of immediacy.
History & Provenance
The work was originally one of four scrolls displayed together to illustrate the yearly cycle. Over time, one scroll was lost, leaving three extant pieces that together remain a rare, intact example of the artist’s seasonal series. Their survival has secured the set’s status as a key reference for scholars studying the artist’s late period.
Artist & collection
Artist
Kanō Hideyori (狩野秀頼) was a Japanese painter of the Kanō school in Kyoto. His date of birth and death are unknown, however he was active in the mid-16th century, the beginning of the Momoyama period (1573–1603). Not much…
